Thirteen 2
Zhong Rui replied: "The general knew you were here to cause trouble for Li Yunsheng - he asked me to kill these rebels to prevent Li Yunsheng from getting confused."
Everyone in the room was terrified, not knowing what vicious method Zhong Rui would use to kill them all. They were afraid that there were many traps in the stone room, and it was easy to dodge an open attack, but difficult to defend against an arrow from the dark. In a hurry, Chen Luohui also grabbed a torch and said, "I'll go up and take a look too." Then he climbed onto the roof.
Outside the house, Mang Keshan asked again, "At this time, why is the general still protecting Li Yunsheng, the spy?"
Zhong Rui said: "The general always said, 'It is easy to get a thousand soldiers, but it is hard to get a general.' You and I will never be as good as Li Yunsheng - alas, pity your loyalty to the general."
These words obviously touched Mang Keshan's sore spot, and he punched the stone door in anger.
Zhong Rui sighed: "Forget it, we are all working for the emperor and the general, so let's do as the general wishes."
"But..." Mang Keshan was obviously unwilling, "Well, why are you so cowardly..."
But Zhong Rui smiled, his voice suddenly lowered, and he leaned over to whisper in Mang Keshan's ear. A moment later, Mang Keshan shouted, "Okay, okay, I'll do as you say!"
The people in the lantern festival in the stone room had no time to think about the conspiracy the two were discussing, when they suddenly heard Yuan screaming and falling off the wall, followed by Chi Yunzi and Chen Luohui. The three of them were on fire, with flames all over their heads and faces. Everyone quickly tore off their clothes and beat them to put out the fire. Wang Chunshan was about to ask what was going on, but Meng Hu pointed at the round hole and said, "Oh no, the old thief is pouring oil down from above!"
Everyone was shocked and looked up. Sure enough, they saw that oil was gushing out of dozens of round holes on the wall. In three of the holes, the oil had been ignited because of the torches that Liao Yuan and the other three had just used to watch. The oil flowed down the wall in a line of fire. Meng Hu shouted, "Put out the fire!" He was the first to rush up, leaped to the burning round hole, and stuffed his clothes into the hole.
Everyone knew that if the oil and the fire line met on the ground, the stone chamber would become a sea of fire and everyone would be burned to death. Seeing that Meng Hu had blocked a round hole and cut off the fire line, they rushed forward and put out the fire line.
Meng Hu blocked one place and then the second place. Fortunately, the stone chamber was very high, and before the fire and oil flowed to the ground at the same time, everyone had put out all three fires. But just when he was about to take a breath, he suddenly saw the three blocked round holes burning again, and the clothes Meng Hu stuffed in were instantly turned into ashes - it turned out that the passages in the round holes were full of oil, and the torches lit by Yuan and others naturally set fire to everything in the passage. Everyone could put out the fire outside, but they couldn't put out the fire inside no matter what.
Meng Hu shouted: "Everyone, hurry up and go back to the cage! We have to hold on for a while!"
After these words were spoken, everyone knew that they could not escape, and they only had one hope: Li Yunsheng would come to save them!
But will Li Yunsheng really come to rescue them? How long can they hold on?
The oil had already flowed onto the ground, and a raging fire was ignited at the edge of the stone chamber. Everyone thought the same thing. They had passed on the Lantern Festival, spreading the orthodoxy of the Han people and the bright lights, but they didn't expect to be buried in the sea of fire today. Was it fate? They had fought their entire lives and killed countless Manchu nobles. Now, they were going to die one day. What kind of reputation would they leave behind? Or, they would not die, but would have to wait for a traitor they despised to come and save them? What difference would it make between surrendering or not surrendering, and what they did in life and what they would be known after death?
Liu Qingye thought of Dan Ying. If he were burned to death here today, he would be a good disciple of Songqiao Academy. However, is this what he hoped for? He left his beloved and his dream of staying together for life, and came here for what? For the good name of a man who sacrificed himself for the sake of national justice? No, not. He thought, it must not be - he actually did it for his master, for the master who raised him, to seek his master's forgiveness, and not to disappoint his master - his master and Dan Ying, the two people he cared about...
The flames had gradually spread to the center of the stone chamber. Everyone stared intently, staring at their own lives that were about to end. Wang Chunshan walked gently to Wu Shuiqing and said, "Fourth sister, do you blame me?"
Wu Shuiqing sighed calmly: "What's the point of talking about resentment? Let's die together today!"
"We died together..." Wang Chunshan murmured, "Yes, we died together!" After repeating it, he suddenly became heroic: "Let's die! We died together, and went to the underworld together. It's good to have a companion. In the next life, we can be reborn together and be brothers again!"
After hearing what he said, the others no longer looked depressed, and said one after another: "Yes, let's die, everyone has to die." Someone else said: "Speaking of going to the underworld together, the second brother is going to the Western Paradise, and the seventh brother is going to see Taishang Laojun, they are not the same as us!"
Liao Yuan laughed out loud and said, "Monk, I have killed many Tartars in my life. No matter if I kill Tartars or anything else, it is killing. I cannot go to the paradise!"
Chi Yunzi also said: "I became a Taoist priest just to avoid shaving my head. I am not sincere. I have never read the Tao Te Ching, let alone self-cultivation and alchemy. If Taishang Laojun saw me, he would beat me back!"
Chen Luohui said: "That's great, let's not separate."
Liu Qingye glanced at Cao Mengsheng and called softly, "Master..."
Cao Mengsheng seemed not to hear, and his eyes became confused and gentle as he looked at the sea of fire. "Master, are you thinking of my junior uncle?" Liu Qingye thought, "After I die, I will see my junior uncle. And after I die, I will see my parents, the leader of the Tashan tribe, and Moler... Moler and I will be good brothers in the underworld... Let's wait for Dan Ying on the Naihe Bridge together... I hope Dan Ying will repel the Junggar bandits and live a long life... We can wait for her..."
Everyone had seen through the life and death, and they were talking and laughing, and no one paid attention to the sea of fire. But at this time, they heard a noise outside the door, all of which were the sound of weapons colliding, the sound of Mang Keshan cursing, and the sound of Zhong Rui whistling. They shouted, "Li Yunsheng, how can you be so ungrateful?" As soon as the words fell, everyone saw the stone door burst open. Li Yunsheng, Zhong Rui, and Mang Keshan were fighting outside.
Everyone was overjoyed, and hurriedly supported each other to rush out of the cage, and then went through the sea of fire and came to the outside of the stone chamber. Chen Luohui and others killed all the soldiers with a few palms, and Meng Hu shouted: "Everyone retreat to the south gate!"
"Wait!" Wang Chunshan called everyone. "Fifth and sixth brothers, take the brothers whose internal strength has not recovered and go first. The rest of you, let's go and settle the score with the old thief Fu Cha!"
Everyone was shocked when they heard this. Meng Hu said, "Brother, what if you... kill Fu Cha Kang?"
Wang Chunshan said: "Now Mang Keshan and Zhong Rui are entangled by Li Yunsheng, so we can kill Fu Chakang!" After that, he called Yuan, Chi Yunzi, Chen Luohui and others and ran towards the depths of the mosque.
Meng Hu shouted, "Brother, this is not the time to use loyalty..." Li Yunsheng also shouted loudly in the fight, "The general is not here, leave quickly!"
Wang Chunshan ignored them and made a few "pa pa pa pa" moves, killing several soldiers and leading his men straight into the depths of the corridor.
Li Yunsheng was shocked and asked, "You...your skills...did you take that medicine?" Without waiting for them to answer, he let out a long roar, forced Zhong Rui away with a palm, and shouted, "Master Wang, come back quickly! That medicine is poisonous! Come back quickly!"
Meng Hu was also horrified: "Oh, I... I didn't notice... Brother... come back! The medicine is indeed poisonous... Mr. Li cured the poison in my body... Brother, come back soon!"
There was no need for further explanation to prove Li Yunsheng's words. At the end of the corridor, the figures of Wang Chunshan and others suddenly shook and gradually fell down.
Li Yunsheng attacked with two palm strikes, slightly curbing Mangkeshan's fierce attack, and stretched out one hand to take out a bottle from his arms, throwing it to Cao Mengsheng and saying, "Go, go and give them this medicine!" Before he finished speaking, Mangkeshan punched him again, but before he could reach his face, he suddenly changed his fist into a palm, and then into a hand knife, chopping his throat diagonally. Li Yunsheng his head to the side, raised his hand to block Mangkeshan's wrist, and at the same time turned his wrist to press his Shenmen acupoint.
Cao Mengsheng took the bottle and said to Liu Qingye, "Hurry, take everyone to the South Gate with your Uncle Meng!" He pushed away Zhong Rui who was attacking to stop him with a palm, and quickly jumped over the battle group to save Wang Chunshan and others.
Zhong Rui was hit by Cao Mengsheng and took several steps back, but he immediately took out an axe from behind and swung it fiercely, creating gusts of cutting wind and heading straight for Meng Hu and others.
Among this group of people, besides Meng Hu, only Liu Qingye was still able to move freely. But how could the combined strength of the two of them be a match for "Jade-faced Li Kui"? After only a short fight, the two men's arms and shoulders were hit by the axe in many places, which was excruciating. However, Zhong Rui's axe became more and more fierce and overbearing. Not only did he block the way for Meng and Liu, but he also occasionally attacked others. The others had no strength to dodge, and they were all injured by the axe.
Seeing this, Li Yunsheng had no choice but to withdraw his hand from the fight with Mang Keshan and come to Zhong Rui's axe to save him. His martial arts skills were higher than Mang Keshan's, so he was unable to gain the upper hand due to this distraction.
At this critical moment, Wu Shuiqing screamed, and Zhong Rui crossed his two axes across her chest and said with a smile: "Li Yunsheng, this is your wife, right? Do you want to go with these rebels, or do you want your wife?"
